Kraft, Norbert

(b Linz, Austria, 21 Aug 1950, naturalized Canadian 1954)
Guitarist, teacher, producer.

He moved with his family to Toronto as a child, and after playing electric guitar in rock bands and studying piano and harpsichord as a teenager, he studied classical guitar with Carl van Feggelen at the RCMT and later with Eli Kassner at the University of Toronto. His later teachers included John Mills in England (1973-4) and Aaron Shearer in the USA (1978-9). He also participated in master classes with Aliro Diaz and Oscar Ghiglia in Europe.

He won early distinction in 1975, when he was awarded the Grand Prize in the Canadian CBC Radio Competition, following this in 1985 with first prize in the Segovia International Competition in Mallorca. He enjoys a substantial career as a concerto soloist and appears regularly with important orchestras, particularly in Canada and in the United States of America, as well as in Europe and the Far East. He was chosen to represent Canada at World Expo '90 in Osaka and again in Seville in 1992. Norbert Kraft is a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music in New York and professor of guitar and chamber music at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music. He is founder and director of the Toronto Guitarfest.